Cliff Bleszinski Says He's Done With Disc-Based Games

Former Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski has claimed he will never make another disc-based game, and asserted that the current industry model relying on Game Informer cover reveals and E3 announcements is dead.

Speaking to Gamasutra the ex-Epic design lead explained he'd been inspired by games like Rust to try and make a PC game that would allow him to have a closer relationship with players, without publishers and the media acting as middle men.

"The whole 'old guard,' where you get a Game Informer cover and an E3 reveal, is dead," he said. "I'll never make another disc-based game for the rest of my career, and [at E3] they're trying to woo buyers from Target and Walmart?"

Bleszinski goes on to explain what he likes about Rust in particular, explaining that it's a perfect example of the Minecraft model that should be fostering more creative enterprises on PC.

"It's not about the 'new user experience'; in these games the new user experience is utter s***, and it's okay," he said. "There are two lessons people have not learned from Minecraft: Get the game out there and build it. Some kid will put out a video. Players will teach each other. You don't need the 'press A to jump'."

Also in the interview Bleszinski reflected upon his tenure working on Gears of War, saying, "It didn’t wind up what I’d hoped; I’d pitched it as ‘Band of Brothers with monsters’ — you know Band of Brothers is well-done and emotional, telling the story of the Greatest Generation and what they did in the war. Yet somehow we landed on ‘Predator’… the characters being all ‘buff and manly’, I’d never planned on that.

“I don’t want Gears to be my defining legacy. At the end of the day, it’s known for being a fun, fantastic franchise. But I’d like to think there’s more to my creativity than that.”